The Tale of the Mercenary
by MadCapMunchkin
Summary: Second in my "The Tale of..." Series, we see Katie from Tale of the Wanderers leaving the Capital Wasteland for her own tale of blood, mayhem, and eventually redemption. Rated "M", 'nuff said!
1. The Lost Girl

**A/N:** And so begins the separate tale of Katie, a mercenary that I have created for "Tale of the Wanderers" as a foil to my good character. I've gotten multiple complaints about her being evil…which is the point…so I'm not sure why I'm getting complaints.

Anyway, so she's getting her own spin-off tale (and the first official spin-off in what I now call "The Tale of… Verse") in which she must sort through her inner darkness and find…more darkness? Redemption? An endless supply of squirrel-on-a-stick (I'm personally hoping for this one)? You'll have to read to find out…

Music for the Chapter: "Confusion" – Alice In Chains

**Chapter One**  
The Lost Girl

"_Go now, Katie…I've spared your life, twice. Do something that doesn't make me regret doing that…" _

She left the Purifier room like the silence of Death, her mind boiling with confusion. The sounds of pitched battle that shook the very walls themselves seemed like low whispers to Katie Kirby. She couldn't put anything together. Nothing that had happened to her in the last few days made any sense at all…

'_He's spared my life…after everything…'_

She had killed scores of people out in the Wasteland. Dozens of Enclave soldiers…the residents of Tenpenny Tower…the Ghoul marauders that had attacked Tenpenny Tower…the residents of Vault 101 who would lay in their radiation-filled tomb forever…

She had killed more people than she could count, and the goody-two-shoes had still let her go. She couldn't sort through the emotions. Was she grateful for being spared? Did she hate him for wounding her pride in such an inexcusable way?

In this order: Maybe and maybe.

101…Jordan…had emerged from his Vault and showed her that, in spite of all the terrible, violent day-to-day business on the surface world, that some good could still be done in the Wasteland. Every cell in her body hated him for that, hated him for shattering that clarity she had had of the world like a stained glass window.

But something in her held that back, bound and gagged it so that it was no more than a vague suggestion in her subconscious now.

'_I'll just get away…'_

The thought had seeped through from her subconscious, the tiny, nonviolent flight part of her fight or flight instinct.

'_It's a big world…maybe I'll just leave the Wasteland…go to another one…I can start over…'_

Part of her secretly hoped something would come along and put her out of her misery.

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Hours went by as she wandered through the Wasteland, staying close to the Potomac. Occasionally, she would see a Yao Guai or Mirelurks cruising along the shores, though none of them even gave her a glance.

'_Great…' _Katie thought deeply, lost in her reverie as the irradiated water splashed against her leather boots. Perhaps she had to instigate a fight. She pulled a pistol from her belt and aimed at a Mirelurk that was feasting off of the carcass of a fallen mole rat near the water's edge. No sooner had her bullet left her gun that the overgrown crab fell over and was still.

'_Damn, I'm good…'_ Katie remarked, though there was nothing proud about the comment to her own ability.

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A river boat was docked at the water's edge. It looked like one of those old ones that ferried people out to Maryland and other parts of Virginia before the Great War. Despite its age, it looked in remarkably good condition. Her…Butch's…Pip-Boy detected life signs in the same area. As she approached, she could see one of them on the dock.

It was a middle-aged woman. She was running up to her.

"Are you going to Point Lookout?" She asked. Katie simply stared at her, confused.

"Please, my daughter…she went there and I need someone to find her…" The woman continued, not seeming to notice Katie's lack of expression.

"Maybe you should go." A familiar voice said, and Katie turned less than ninety degrees to see Butch, sitting on one of the supports, combing his hair with a flip comb.

"Not you again." Katie groaned.

"Who?" The woman asked, realizing that Katie wasn't looking at her.

"Yep…it's me again, doll." Butch gave her a roguish wink and hopped up onto his feet. "So, you gonna go?"

"I thought you were gone!" Katie snapped.

"Who are you talking to?" The woman asked, confused. "Please, can you convince my daughter to come home? Her name is Nadine…"

"Go on…" Butch said. "Go help that poor woman…"

"Okay, fine!" Katie snapped. "I'll do it!"

"You will?" The woman asked, excitedly.

"You will?" Butch asked in mock surprise, earning him a glare.

"Yeah…" Katie said, heading onto the boat to speak with a tall, thin man wearing a gritty outfit and a trader's cap.

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Tobar found his eyes going up and down along the slender, tightly muscled form of a young, red haired girl who was dressed in leather and who had just walked her way onto his boat.

"Welcome to the Duchess Gambit, miss." He said. "We're just back from Point Lookout, but it won't be long before we set out again. Are you interested?"

"Dad told me never to accept rides from strangers." The girl replied sarcastically.

"Well, you don't seem like someone who listens to Daddy, do you?" Tobar remarked.

"I'm here about passage to Point Lookout." She changed the subject, her eyes narrowing at him.

"Ah…four hundred caps, and we'll head straight there." Tobar said. "Smoothest trip you'll ever have on the sea, and that's a promise…"

"Right, whatever…" She replied, rolling her eyes, reaching into her bag and stopping a sack of what was probably more than four hundred caps to Tobar.

"Alrighty then!" Tobar said, pocketing the sack. "We'll head off as soon as you're ready. You can just take the room with the bunk. Trust me, we'll be there in no time…"

By this time the girl, without even having told him her name, had turned on her heel and headed to the room.

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"So, gonna find the girl…" Butch said, looking in the mirror as he combed his pompadour back, then turning to see both sides of his profile. Katie did not answer the hallucination, so caught up in everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

Now, she was getting a fresh start…perhaps…

"I guess you, uh…don't mind me sticking around, then? Eh?" Butch asked.

Katie ignored him, lying down on the cot and pulling her pistol out of its hip holster, just in case Tobar wanted to pick up an "extra payment" for the trip.

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**A/N:** Where will Katie's travels take her? Well, to Point Lookout, obviously, but just where will those travels take her? Find out in Chapter Two – "Beachhead", coming soon…


	2. Beachhead

**A/N:** Time for your favorite segment and mine…Review da review!

**Technocide** – Oh, there will be issues with the swampfolk, don't worry…they just had better hope that Katie does not get her hands on a double barrel shotgun…which she does in this chapter. Oops…

**Bren Tenkage** – Desmond won't be scared of Katie, but he will not enjoy the consequences of his foul mouthing…

**Law the Lord of souls** – It will be an epic tale of blood, death, mayhem, and…um, more death? All joking aside, thanks for the interest. It will be quite a ride, I'm certain…

In this chapter, Katie takes her first steps onto the mushy, watery ground of Point Lookout. What will she find? What will find her? And will the ghost/hallucination of Butch continue to torment her? Read on…

Music for the Chapter: "Stranger In a Strange Land" – Iron Maiden

**Chapter Two  
**Beachhead

Smoke.

She could smell smoke, coming from outside. Getting up from her cot and leaving the cabin, she looked outside to see the shoreline…they had reached Point Lookout.

That didn't explain the smoke.

Standing at the railing on the far edge of the _Duchess Gambit_, Katie could see a structure in the distance. It looked like the smoke was rising from it.

"Well, here we are." Tobar's voice jarred in. "Point Lookout!" Katie did not have to turn to see that Tobar had followed her up the steps to the viewing deck.

"Thank you, Captain…" Katie said in a quiet, restrained tone. She did not have to turn to know Tobar has visibly paled and had turned on his heel and left her be.

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"So…we heading up there?" Butch asked.

"Possibly." Katie said. By now, she'd pretty much accepted that Butch was sticking around, hallucination or not. Of course, that didn't mean she had to like it. Heading down the dock toward a ratty-looking Pre-War town, she was keeping her eyes peeled for attackers.

"Man, you're tense…" Butch whistled low.

"Shut up a minute." Katie spoke barely above a whisper. Less than a few seconds later, a large man wearing torn and faded fishermen's overalls came tearing out of the woodwork of one building, swinging an axe like a mad thing.

Katie reflexively reached for Vampire's Edge on her belt…then suddenly remembered that the sword was no longer in her possession.

'_Dammit!'_ She cursed herself as she rolled out of the way. The crazed man's axe met only the muddy ground. Hopping up from where she had fallen against the ground, Katie pulled out a ten millimeter and fired at the man with reckless abandon.

A shot hit his chest…then his arm…

As the axe was sent flying off and the man, rather stupidly, turned to stare after it, Katie took the opportunity to bury a bullet in the back of his head. The man fell over into the mud and was still.

"Damn!" Butch exclaimed, beaming. "You _are_ good…" Katie wasn't listening, holstering her gun and looking down on the body with some degree of…remorse? No, that couldn't be what she was feeling. Remorse was something weak people felt…wasn't it?

"Ah, the sweet moral dilemma!" Butch was still grinning. Once again, Katie wasn't listening. Walking over to the axe that now laid half buried in the mud, she picked up the weapon. It was hardly a replacement for as fine a weapon as Vampire's Edge had been, but she was on a new playing field. Maybe it was best to start from scratch...

Keeping her new weapon in her hand, the mercenary decided to go see what the hell was making smoke come up from the mansion in the distance.

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It was a southern plantation. In years past, before the War, Katie imagined that it must have looked beautiful. Lush green fields surrounding it and none of the windows looking like they were about to fall from their places.

"Couple of Vault suits…call it home…" Butch remarked, as though agreeing with her line of thinking.

"So you're a ghost that reads my mind now?" Katie asked. When the late leader of the Tunnel Snakes shrugged, she rolled her eyes. She stepped toward the door, the axe she'd garnered from the crazed attacker still gripped in her hands. She wasn't ten feet from the door when an intercom system chimed with the voice of a very disgruntled sounding man.

"_You're not a tribal. Get the fuck in here and help me with this home invasion."_

"Wow, he's direct, ain't he?" Butch asked. "Doesn't it make you just wanna…go rip his head off?" In truth, Katie wanted to do just that or, at least, some part of her did. In spite of that desire, she remained emotionless as she pulled open the door and entered the mansion.

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Desmond was firing shots off like a mad thing as wave after wave of tribals were flooding into the main room.

'_Filthy fuckers tracking mud through _my_ house!' _He thought with disgust as he plugged another attacker, a young man, leaving his two dogs to yank out the bones. The automated turrets were also doing their best to quell the invasion.

The old ghoul turned just in time to see a native's shotgun pressed hard to his temple. He wasn't able to react before the blade of an axe cut cleanly through the native's head, splitting them in twain. From between the two halves of his attacker stepped a young woman with blazing red hair and wearing tighter leather than he'd ever seen fit on a woman's body.

And damn it all if she wasn't track mud, too!

"C'mon, we need to close off the wings so they can't attack!" He said, getting up and grabbing his gun.

"Are you fucking deaf?" Desmond snapped as he noticed that the girl looked like she wasn't even listening to him.

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On the other side of the conversation, Katie was horrified with herself. She had just come into the room and cut down this person without even thinking. It was nothing to do with the ghoul she'd just inadvertently saved; she hadn't seen him or even really cared if there had been anyone in front of the attacker.

But she's just chopped the person in half with all the force her arms could muster, just on instinct.

'_Is that who I am? Have I been that way so long that killing is all I can do?'_ She wondered.

"Look, I don't have time for you to act dumb, you little shit, and more of them are going to get in!" The ghoul snapped, heading toward the opening that the natives had created in the wall.

"Wow, you have a mouth." Katie said, some measure of her snarky personality coming back to her. The guy hadn't spoken more than three words before she was already tired of him.

"You're fucking right I have a mouth, and shut the fuck up and listen!" The ghoul snapped. "I need you to head upstairs and block off the east and west hallways. I'll keep tabs on you from the cameras. Don't disappoint me."

Now Katie's natural inclination was to give the nearest wall a new coat of paint with the ghoul's guts, but she instead found herself doing as he had instructed, albeit with an almost sarcastic silence.

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The upper level of the house was quiet in spite of the Tribals that the ghoul had insisted were assaulting the place. That was, of course, until Katie turned to find a staircase and met the faces of three Tribals. As they moved their weapons to attack, Katie disarmed on with her axe and planted her foot firmly into the face of the one with the shotgun, who twisted his arm so that the shot that was meant for Katie instead hit the third tribal, who fell against the wall with a bleeding gut.

The other two proved to be more cautious now, both backing away and readjusting their attack patterns. However, the moment they took to do that was a moment too long against Katie Kirby. The blade of her axe cut cleanly through the second of her three attackers, and the last one had his neck entrapped Katie's feet. Twisting out of a jump, the sheer momentum of very bone between their vicegrip broke.

Putting the moral ambiguity of her actions on hold, Katie steadied herself as more natives tore down the corridor.

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About half an hour later, Katie was at the first of the two attack points that the ghoul had told her about.

'_Hit the red pipe in the room. The explosion should close the wing off to them…'_

The ghoul's voice had come from an intercom panel next to a nearby door.

"Oh, so he's been listening in on you. Terrific…" Butch commented, apparently having come back from the ether of her mind. "Sorry I about ditching you back there, needed a sandwich. Hope I didn't worry you…"

"Perish the thought." Katie replied with a roll of her eyes as she took aim and stepped back. A single shot from her ten millimeter sent the pipe into oblivion, collapsing most of the wall behind it. Much to her surprise, the ceiling did not collapse with it.

'_Good…now get around and do the other side!'_

"Boy, is he bossy!" Butch whistled low. Katie ignored him and was heading back the way she had come, or at least, that's what she thought. The damned hallways all looked the same. In spite of her lack of direction in this place, she eventually found herself back in the main lobby, and found the ghoul.

"Why are you dicking around?" The ghoul asked hoarsely. "We have work to do…"

"Bite me." Katie shot back, glaring. She may not have been enjoying what she was doing, but this guy was pissing her off.

"You better keep your tongue in your mouth, or I'll rip it out." The ghoul's eyes narrowed. Katie was sure he would do it, given the opportunity, not that she would give him the opportunity.

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The trip to the other side was just as eventful and, by the end, corpse-strewn. Katie had gotten a few slugs in her shoulders and side, but that hardly fazed her with the nice application of a few stimpacks. Soon, she was back in the main room.

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Desmond was setting up land mines on the staircase when the girl returned. She'd taken her own sweet time in finishing off those damn pipes!

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"They're trying to barge in through the front door." Desmond sneered. "Get ready for a dramatic final stand…"

"Okay…" The girl said, twirling round and readying her gun.

When the battle had finally ended, and they were up to their ankles in the body parts of the attacking natives, Desmond had to admit that he was impressed with her skill.

"I suppose you think you just flew in here and save my ass, huh?" Desmond asked.

"You know, for a second there…yeah, I kinda did…" The girl replied.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Desmond spat.

"Katie Kirby," The girl replied with a defiant smirk, "that's who the fuck I think I am."

**A/N:** Ooh! Katie vs. Desmond! Wait a sec…no! Spoilers! Forget that, I didn't say it. Anyway, so next, Katie is going to work for the walking corpse to infiltrate the natives. Stay tuned for "Going Native", coming up next…


	3. The Enlightened Path

**A/N:** Review da review!

**Technocide** – In truth, I haven't planned too much out for Katie's tour in Point Lookout outside of the Main Quest. But, you're right, Professor Calvert will have his hands full with Katie.

**Bren Tenkage** – While refusing to give away any plot details. Shortest. Fight. Ever.

And so, now, Katie will head down the Enlightened Path…

Also, here's a challenge to you, readers! Count up every time a character swears, counting multiple uses to the same word in the same sentence (Desmond, naturally, would be a massive example).

Also also, Katie will take from the seeds of the Mother Punga. I've edited some of the details of her hallucination to fit her better…you'll see what I mean…

**Chapter Three**  
The Enlightened Path

"Well, maybe you could learn a thing or two about making dramatic final stands." Desmond said. "I've seen better…"

"I'm looking at worse." Katie replied just as dryly.

"Why don't you shut your mouth and listen up?" Desmond asked.

"It sounds like somebody needs to have a better attitude." Butch commented.

"Tell me about it." Katie nodded.

"You want to hear about it? Then shut the fuck up and listen." Desmond sneered, not having heard nor seen Butch. "We need to find out why these tribals are attacking my fucking house, so you're gonna head to their camp and join up with them."

"And why should I do that?" Katie asked.

"Umm, _hello_? Think you stupid little slut!" Desmond spat. "Those little pricks know who I am! They've been trying to kill me! I can't run in there and take them out!"

"Why not?" Katie asked, not impressed by the ghoul's spitting and swearing, and more than a little tired of his attitude.

"Because I'm one ghoul and they're a bunch of rabid sons of bitches!" Desmond snapped. "You could get in easily and take them out from the inside."

"So let me get this straight." Katie said. "You want me to join a tribe of locals in order to kill them all from the inside?"

"Nothing so mundane," Desmond said. "I could hire any mercenary and just blast the place into a crater, but that's not what I want."

"What do you want then?" Katie asked, not understanding what he was getting at.

"I want you to find out who leads them." Desmond said. "And then, you can report back to me."

"Who says I've agreed?" Katie asked. "What's in it for me?"

"You get to live." Desmond replied simply.

"What are you gonna do, kill me?" Katie asked, nearly laughing.

"I considered it, but you're a useful tool." Desmond said. "Stick with me, and you can learn a lot."

"Okay…whatever…" Katie shrugged.

"The camp is to the north." Desmond said. "Go there and find out whatever you can…"

Without another word, Katie turned on her heel and waded through the dead bodies to get outside.

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"So you gonna go?" Butch asked.

"Yeah, I might as well." Katie said as she walked along the tall grass.

"I guess you've gotten to like me hanging around, then?" Butch asked.

"Not remotely." Katie said, glaring at him. "The only reason I tolerate you is because I can't put a bullet through your head…"

"Well, you slit my throat. That worked pretty well, right?" Butch asked with a smirk. Katie rolled her eyes in disgust and walked away.

"When exactly are you going to go away?" Katie asked.

"Umm…I'm your hallucination, right?" Butch asked, sarcastically. "You tell me…"

"Okay, that's a bunch of crap." Katie said.

"I don't know, maybe you need to repent your evil ways or some such…some crap like that." Butch shrugged, picking the dirt out from under his fingernails with his switchblade.

"What?" Katie snapped. Yeah, okay, sure…she'd been evil…she _was_ evil, but there'd never been any consequences before.

"I guess getting that not getting that bomb blown up was when your mojo died off, huh?" Butch asked. Katie thought back and realized that he was right. Ever since that son of a bitch from 101 had disarmed the bomb, everything she'd been working on had gone to pot. Sure, when their paths didn't cross, she had no problems with any job she was on, but she never again had the success that she'd had before the door of Vault 101 had opened.

"Looks like you'll just have to go kill him…" Butch said, sarcastically, and Katie knew full well why. She'd tried killing him, not once but three times by now, with no success.

"Oops, sorry, was this all just a very bad subject for you?" Butch asked, his voice still dripping with sarcasm.

"Fuck off." Katie snapped, walking away.

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A day of walking and climbing down and up two cliff-faces brought Katie to the Cathedral she'd seen in the distance from the Mansion. Granted, she'd left a lot of dead locals between the two places. Granted, she had only attacked when attacked, she hadn't gone looking for a fight. And even with her shaky moral compass, Katie had been able to justify the killings as defense rather than murder.

As she walked up to the gate, the intercom at the side buzzed into life.

"_Hark! Who goes there?"_

"Seriously? 'Hark! Who goes there?'" Katie muttered under her breath, then cleared her voice before speaking. "Hello?"

"_Welcome, traveler. You stand now at the threshold of transcendence. What is it that you seek?"_

"The threshold of transcendence, really?" Katie again muttered under her breath, pretty sure she was not tripping on jet…or, at least, not enough of it for this to be a hallucination.

"I seek enlightenment." She said.

"_What? A humble traveler who seeks the enlightenment! Then you must pass the test of Mother Punga."_

"Okay, test, great. I'll do it." Katie said into the intercom. Anything to get the job done, she told herself, as she began sinking just a little back into the way she was.

The mercenary who could get anything done.

"_Are you so sure? Braver souls than you have ventured into the swamps and never returned…"_

"I'll take your test and pass it! Just tell me where I need to go!" Katie said.

"_Far to the West, there is Mother Punga…consume her seeds, and then you can return to us as a member of the tribe."_

"Okay, no problem." Katie said, turning on her heel and heading to the west.

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Swampfolk and Mirelurks bared her passage, but Katie didn't even stop to make sure they were dead after putting some bullets in their heads.

She was focused again. She had purpose and a mission to complete.

Or did she?

The nightmares of the things she had done continued to haunt her, but she did not let them consume her now.

She had purpose.

It would be the early hours of the evening when she finally got to the caverns. Its twisty maze was far less than she could handle, and barring a few more nasty Mirelurk attacks, she journeyed deep into the cavern.

And she found it, for only _this_ could be the Mother Punga that had been spoken of.

Katie had seen the other Punga scattered about the earth all around, but this one was one that she could actually fit inside…probably two of her could. Large tendrils jutted out from beneath it, and were swaying gently in the breeze. On those tendrils were what Katie assumed were the seeds that the gatekeeper at the Cathedral had mentioned.

"You're not going to eat one of those, are you?" Butch asked.

"No choice…" Katie said, then laughed a bit. "Maybe I'll get to see you in rainbow…"

"Yeah, I wear black for a reason, doll." Butch said, seemingly somewhat offended as he brushed off the shoulders of his leather jacket. Katie, ignoring the false man, knelt down and gently picked a single seed off of the tendrils. There was a hiss and, before she could react, a gas spewed from within the tendril and hit her in the face, causing her to drop the seed and fall flat on her back due to lack of balance.

"Whoa, you okay?" Butch asked, walking over and trying to help her up, his hands falling through her.

"I think so…" Katie coughed shaking her hands around her to get rid of any excess gas. "What the hell happened?"

"Hey, Katie…"

The voice had been soft, and it sounded like it had come from back the way she came. Katie's eyebrows flattened in confused as she scrunched up her nose. Had she been followed? Pulling out her axe, she resolved to go and look.

"Where are you going?" Butch asked.

"This way." Katie gestured toward the way back.

"Uh…I don't think you should go that way…" Butch shook his head.

"Why not?" Katie asked.

"I don't know…" Butch shrugged. "I just don't think you should go that way…maybe you should stay here…" Katie considered his words for a long moment, but then just shook her head and started that way again.

"No use in talking to myself…" She muttered as she stepped back into the irradiated water.

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She didn't hear that voice again, but she kept moving, quietly. It was odd, but she kept hearing a sound that almost sounded like a saw cutting through lumber.

_What the hell?_

"Hey, Katie!"

It was the voice again, it was so distant and yet so familiar. Where had she heard it before?

"Come and find me, Katie! I'm waiting for you!"

She had to follow it, she felt compelled to. Katie moved forward and immediately tripped over something. Looking back, she picked it up off of the ground.

It was a Bobblehead…a Vault-Tec Bobblehead…

She'd found one like this in wandering the Wasteland, but she'd tossed it away, not thinking too much of it. She read the text on its bottom:

"_Tsk. Tsk. Walked right into another trap. Exactly how stupid are you?"_

Katie scowled in disgust and tossed the thing away, rolling her eyes. _"If I want a commentary on my every thought, I'll ask for it…stupid plastic…thingy…"_ She thought as she kept going on through the water. She vaguely noticed that all of the Mirelurk corpses that she'd buried bullets and axe-blades into were gone, and found it quite strange.

However, she was distracted from any thought of that when she found yet another Bobblehead. In spite of her better judgment, she picked it up and read its bottom.

"_Alone at the top…you must have enjoyed getting here!"_

Again, she threw it aside, though the voice of the little girl inside of her was telling her that it was right. She had worked to be the self-proclaimed Queen of the Wasteland, and what had it gotten her?

She moved forward and saw something she remembered from her childhood – a small bombed-out shack sitting in between the trees. Outside in a less than perfectly clean dress was a little girl with flaming red hair. As she approached, the girl looked up, and Katie was horrified by what she saw.

Half of the girl's face was perfectly normal: Clean, somewhat pale skin covering her head from the top of her head to the bottom of her neck on one side, with flaming red hair fluttering in the breeze. The other side, though…

The other side was dead.

Pale, beautiful, soft skin was replaced by hard and brittle bones that were criss-crossed with lacerations. Out of that side of the head, which had no lips, a legion of maggots wriggled out of the mouth and eye socket.

"Oh, hi!" The girl said, her voice cheery. Katie couldn't help but feel like she'd met this child before, as if she'd known this person a long, long time ago and she'd forgotten about it completely.

"Hi…" Katie said, while trying not to throw up from the site of the girl.

"How did you get here?" The girl asked, still with that unintentionally hideous smile on her face.

"I-I don't know." Katie said, truthfully, realizing at last who the child was. The girl nodded, then shrugged.

"Well, maybe you can find your way back…" The girl said quietly, standing up and brushing the dirt off of her dress before walking back toward the little shack. Her eyes drawn to the ground where the child had been playing, Katie saw little dolls that had been stitched together out of rags and bits of string.

"_I used to play with these all the time…"_ She thought, picking one up and examining it. A smile came to her face as she remembered that little happy time she had had in her life, before Paradise Falls, and before Eulogy Jones…and before…

Her eyes found something else, a glint of light off of well-kempt, yellow hair…another Bobblehead. Without meaning to, as though she had no control over her own body, she picked it up and read its base.

"_Yeah, you're pretty. You're still the ugliest bitch in the Wasteland…" _

When Katie looked up again, the shack had vanished and the path had come back. When she looked back to her hand, the Bobblehead was gone as well. She continued to walk through the water, regardless, and eventually heard that sound again, the saw.

Shaking her head, she kept going, and eventually heard the voice again.

"Katie…we're waiting for you…"

The voice was so familiar. She had to find out who it was. Her steps hastened as she turned a corner and found…

Another…freaking…Bobblehead.

Katie sighed deeply as she felt the thing come to her hand and she read the text printed on it.

"_Keep running! You'll only die tired!"_

She tossed the plastic torment aside and listened again. She'd come to a section where she couldn't hear anything but the wind. Soon, however, the mysterious voice that tormented her could be heard.

"What is taking you so long?"

Katie ran off in search of the voice and found herself in what looked to be…

Dear God, someone had turned the forest upside down.

"_Okay, yeah…I'm hallucinating…"_ Katie thought, nodding to herself as she could pretty much do nothing but accept it. Testing with a tip-toe out onto the flooring of leaves and branches, Katie stepped out and did not move otherwise. Worrying more and more with every step, Katie moved quickly and found herself face to face with another one of those damned Bobbleheads. Once again, she read it.

"_What goes up must come up, apparently…"_

Katie scowled and tossed it away, watching nervously as it fell through the leaf floor and disappeared. When she had gotten to the other side, Katie looked back to see the forest had returned to how it had been before.

"If I get out of here alive, I am never going to _touch_ Jet again…" She muttered to herself, turning and heading down the hallway.

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Corridors and corridors went by, Katie didn't know how long she'd been traveling when she came out again and found another flooded area. Floating in the water nearby were several shapes that Katie couldn't make out from this distance.

In the water between her and them was another one of those plastic little boys that were apparently designed to get on her nerves. She snatched it up and read it, wanting this nonsense to just end.

_"You don't run faster than the Yao Guai, you just run faster than everyone else..."_

Looking up from it, Katie could now see clearly what she could not before. The floating shapes were, in fact, bodies.

Eulogy Jones…the Family…the residents of Tenpenny Tower…the ghouls who had taken over Tenpenny Tower…

She was going down the list of her greatest killings. Everyone she had ever murdered in cold blood was here…now…

"Looks like it's the end, doll…" Butch's voice could be heard as his blood-soaked body rose out of the water.

"End? What do you me-?" Katie started to ask.

"The end of you…little Katie…" Eulogy's corpse rose as he spoke.

"W-What?" Katie asked, raising her gun and pointing it at the zombies.

"You gonna kill me again, Katie?" Eulogy laughed as the wound in his neck where she'd cut off his head became more apparent, with all assortments of insects coming out of the gaping hole.

Katie backed away, her assault rifle slipping out of her hands as hit a rock wall. At her feet was another of those taunting Bobbleheads. Unlike the others ones, this one wore a green hat and carried a four-leaf clover in its hand. In spite of the lumbering dead coming at her, Katie picked it up and read it.

"_Karma's just a bitch, ain't it?"_

Katie threw it at Eulogy, who caught it and crushed it between his hands. Katie slid along the wall, trying to find an out. No such thing existed, and she was soon trapped.

"No, please…don't…" Katie begged.

The dead lumbered toward her, and there was no escape. Katie, tears falling from fear alone, closed her eyes as the inevitable end came.

"Katie! You're here!"

It was the voice, the voice that had brought her into this hellhole. And it was coming from behind her. She turned around to find plenty of space behind her all of a sudden and then she saw…him…

"You!" She glared at the young man in the Armored Vault Suit. A samurai sword had come to his hand.

"Yep, it's me, Katie!" The boy smirked, his eyes glowing a soft red. "I've come from your nightmares to finally finish you off…"

"You couldn't…" Katie said, backing away, right into Eulogy and Butch and moving away again in an instant. "You couldn't do it in Project Purity, and you won't do it now…you'll save me, that's what you do, right?"

Jordan laughed.

"Please…like I'd ever try to save _you_!" He laughed, and the torrent of laughter from the walking corpses forced Katie to her knees, staring up at the young man – the Demon who had brought her carefree, reckless life crashing down around her.

The sword came up, and soon it was embedded in her skull. Katie gagged as she felt the blade cut through without resistance to the bone. Then, just as it had entered her head, it was drawn out. Blood gushed in waves from the opening as the young man from Vault 101 laughed at her pain.

Katie resigned herself to her fate as the lives she had ended converged on her, and her world faded to black.

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**A/N:** Oh, dear me…Katie seems to be in a spot of hallucinogenic trouble, hmm? Well, good thing it was a hallucination, right? Coming up next, Katie goes back to the tribe and finds out who's behind the whole operation…

Also, I had said that this chapter would be titled "Going Native". Apologies to all, as the next chapter will be titled "Going Native". Sorry for the confusion.


	4. Going Native

**A/N:** Review da review…

**Technocide** – Good going. As for the side quests, I doubt that Katie will take them on, but I have a lot more than just Point Lookout and the Pitt planned for Katie.

**Bren Tenkage** – It'd probably be the last thing you'd ever see. Lol

In the last chapter, lots of symbolism…in this chapter, Katie wakes up with a headache, a scar, and decides to go…well…

**Music for the Chapter:** "Immigrant Song" – Led Zeppelin

**Chapter Four**  
Going Native

"Ugh…"

"Take it easy, you're gonna be alright…"

"Butch? What the hell?"

She leaped up from where she was to grab Butch's throat, though she failed and fell flat on her face in the mud, which was quickly joined by the scant contents of her stomach.

"Damn, you don't look so good…" Butch commented.

"Get away from me!" Katie snapped, scuttling to her feet and backing away as she held up a hand to defend herself.

"Geez, who spooked you? The Boogeyman?" Butch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know what you did, you stay away from me!" Katie backing away and heading back toward the native's camp at the Cathedral, leaving her hallucination looking confused.

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She stumbled through the swamps back toward the Cathedral. Only a lone Mirelurk had barred her path, and that creature seemed to find one of the Swampfolk a far more interesting meal than her. Still stunned and having the worst headache she'd ever had in her life, Katie stumbled back to the Cathedral, her finger pressing against the speaker.

"I did it…" She said. "I found the seeds…"

"_Welcome to our tribe…"_

The gates opened and Katie stumbled through, her mud-stained leather jacket breaking her fall as she fell flat on her back.

"We need some help over here!"

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"Ugh…"

"Take it easy, you're gonna be alright…"

'_Oh, God…not again…'_ Katie groaned, but she could distinctly tell that the voice was not Butch's, it was woman's.

"Yeah…nasty bump on your head, but I think I've gotten the scar out…that hair's gonna be a mess growing back, though…" The woman continued.

"Who are you?" Katie asked. Her vision was returning to her. She was looking up at the roof of…was it the Cathedral? Yes, that must have been it. She'd been brought inside. Standing over her was a tall, thin thing of a woman with curly red hair.

"Nadine's the name," The woman smiled, "good to see that somebody in this madhouse can still talk properly."

"Nadine?" Katie sat up, rubbing her head. It was then that she realized that she'd been garbed in some of the skins she'd seen the natives attacking Desmond's mansion wearing. "What in the-?"

"You're stuff's in this bag," Nadine said, shaking it. "Your clothing was taken out to get washed…one of the tribeswomen said she'd never seen dirtier leather in her life…"

"Your mom…" Katie said, her head still spinning. "She asked me to find you…"

"Oh…" Nadine said, sighing a bit. "Yeah…mom…she's sweet, but just a bit too clingy…I came to Point Lookout to find my fortune, and I'm not going back until I do…"

"Well, you tell her that, because I'm not going to…" Katie said. Nadine laughed a bit.

"You know, that scar on your head looked pretty bad, but it seems like you came out alright." Nadine said, wanting to change the subject.

"Wait, what?" Katie asked. It was around now that she realized that her pounding headache had faded off.

"The scar…they cut open your head and took out a bit of your brain…" Nadine said.

"WHAT?" Katie exclaimed, leaping to her feet. She found herself standing near a mirror and looked into it. A strip of hair had been cut from her head, and a jagged scar over her right eye.

"Oh, no!" Katie groaned, seeing the streak of paled skin between roaring red locks of hair. She looked like she'd gotten into a fight with a lawnmower and lost. If there was anything she admired about her physical appearance, it was her beautiful hair. And now, it had nearly all been shaved off…

"Here, maybe this will help…" Nadine said, handing Katie a gray cloth. Working quickly, Katie tied it into a wrap around her head. It looked horrid, but it would have to do.

"To be honest, I thought you'd be more upset about a chunk of your brain being cut out…" Nadine remarked.

"Yeah…" Katie shook her head, her brain apparently still in plenty working order without the missing piece. "Who does it?"

"I don't know…" Nadine said. "But I think it's somebody the tribe hires, because nobody here does it…"

"Why'd you guys attack the mansion?" Katie asked.

"Whoa! Chalk full of questions, aren't you?" Nadine asked.

"Sorry…" Katie said. "I've been through a lot to get here…"

"I can imagine…" Nadine said. "But if it will put your mind at ease, no, I didn't sign up to go marching off to that Mansion. Anyway, it was Jackson who put them all up to it…"

"Jackson?" Katie asked.

"He's the leader of the tribe." Nadine said. "Hangs around in a cave nearby for most of the day, speaking to the Great One or something like that…"

"Can I get in to see him?" Katie asked.

"Keep your voice down…" Nadine said. Katie followed her glance to see a few of their fellow tribals looking toward them disapprovingly. Normally, Katie knew, she could take out the entire room in less than a minute, but in her current state she wasn't willing to take the risk.

"What?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, they've admitted you to the tribe, but that doesn't mean you've earned anyone's trust…" Nadine said. "Present part excluded…"

"Huh?" Katie asked.

"Look, I've been here a few weeks, and I'm only allowed to work the Punga gardens, and they only let me do that under supervision." Nadine said.

"Great…so, I'm stuck farming…" Katie said.

"Unless they put you on guard duty," Nadine said, "with your skills with a weapon, I wouldn't be surprised if they did…" She stood up and walked back over to her own bedroll. "Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they _didn't_…"

As Nadine rolled over and drifted off the sleep, she left Katie sitting on the somewhat bloodied and smelly bedroll she'd been placed on, contemplating a new life among the Tribe…

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**A/N**: So what's next? Well, Katie gets down and dirty with the hoe…garden hoe, that is. There will be Punga farming and…a Punga thief? Why, yes, I think a nice side quest is in order. See the next bit of Katie's adventures in "The Punga Thief", coming up next…soon…hopefully…


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